


your lips of nectar (sweet, divine)

by dewshi



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Dumb Elaborate Plans, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, High Heels, Long Descriptions of Outfits, Maybe slight OOC, Party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:34:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24778462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dewshi/pseuds/dewshi
Summary: Adora learns what a "crush" means on Bright Moon, and realizes that she has one on her best friend. Her other best friend takes it upon himself to set the two of them up in the most romantic way he can imagine.
Relationships: Adora/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	your lips of nectar (sweet, divine)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rainphee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainphee/gifts).



> HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHEE
> 
> so this is a birthday present for my friend :33!! love you sm
> 
> i actually started this fic last year but i didn't complete it before now for some reason. also i'm only halfway through season 4 at this point so if this isn't canon accurate to the later seasons that... that is the reason
> 
> this is meant to take place sometime around seasons one or two.

On Bright Moon, everything is… different. 

Sparring is the first thing I noticed. Back in the Horde, it was all vicious claws and genuine - albeit gentle - strikes. If you lost, you _lost,_ and your squadron didn't let you hear the end of it. In the Horde, sparring was something most people dreaded. Catra did. Kyle definitely did. Lonnie did, on some level, and even Rogelio did, even if he didn't show it. I did, too. But not for the same reasons.

Everyone else was terrified of sparring because it hurt. They were afraid of the bruises and the scratches and the pain. We were taught not to feel it, to try to pretend that it wasn't there, but we still did. But that's not what I was afraid of. I hated sparring because I didn't want to hurt everyone else. I was good at sparring, if I do say so myself, and I could best everyone in my squadron in a straight wrestling match. Except maybe Rogelio. I could beat Rogelio on a good day, if I was lucky.

Still, I tried not to. I never admitted it, but sometimes I would let others win just so I didn't have to hurt them. I remember Catra's incredulous expression when I let Kyle pin me to the ground. The look on Lonnie's face when she knocked my staff halfway across the training hall, even though she knew I'd trained hard to keep my staff hand steady. I just never wanted to see them in pain.

On Bright Moon, it's like everyone is like me. They almost never even spar with live partners, except when both parties really want to. Usually, it's training dummies. And the practice weapons they use are weighted, but they don't hurt, even if you whack really hard. Unless you whack somewhere around seven and nine times, depending on where you whack. I know that from personal experience. A girl's got to conduct studies when she moves to live on a different world.

Of course, it’s not just sparring. Bright Moon is like an alien world. Everyone is so kind and they never seem to prey on you. They're sweet, apologetic, but not afraid. Just… kind. But it comes with its downsides. In the Horde, everyone said what they were thinking. Troops were honest, at least to each other. On Bright Moon, it's like everyone is always talking to a higher-up they need to impress. Every word they say is coated in sickly sweet honey, full of pleasantries and etiquette rules. 

I don't understand any of it. I feel lost all the time, trying to navigate this seemingly infinite web of arbitrary rules and customs. Nobody seems to want to explain it all to me, and all I get is weird looks when I commit a faux pas that I never knew existed. That's pretty much the only part of Bright Moon I dislike, though. It's worth it.

If nothing else, it's worth it for my friends. They seem to fit in so well, laughing and making jokes I don't always understand. They look so right and at home in the hallways and beneath the arching roofs that feel too large for me to stand beneath comfortably. They have no problem with the cushions that are way too big and soft as clouds, or the long, winding queues at the marketplace or the fruits and candies that somehow taste like just a bit too… much.

Bow's laughter echoes from the tall marble pillars that line the castle halls. His grin is so wide and his hands gesture wildly as he speaks. He has a spring in his step and dimples on his cheeks and he lives every moment with wild abandon. I wish I had the courage to be as loud as he is. Sometimes I get there when we’re out in the courtyard and doing this thing the Bright Moon folk call "playing a game," which is like a competition, but kind of different? Sometimes I "score a goal," and he gets so excited and starts yelling and then I start yelling too and it feels like it doesn't matter how huge the world is because I've conquered it all.

And then there's Glimmer. I don't think I have the words, at least yet, to describe Glimmer. She's like the human form of the midnight sun. Her eyes have a sparkle in them like nobody I've ever met. Her hands move elegantly. I could watch them for hours. When she's training, she furrows her brows just so, and a little crease forms between the. I could watch her for hours doing that, too. When she walks, her hair bounces up and down. Sometimes it seems like glitter is falling from it, like leaves from an autumn tree. When she talks, her voice is like a little bell. When she laughs, it's like the world has come alive. There's never been anything like her. At least… not since I was young. Not since Catra.

I remember when we were little. Catra and I ran down the halls, chasing each other. Seeing her sharp-toothed grin when she finally caught up to me made me so happy. When Catra had a bad dream, she came up on the bed and curled up right next to me, and I hugged her until she fell asleep again. She would never admit it out loud, and I knew better than to bring it up. We would wrestle, too. Whenever I won, she would get this pouty, adorable frown on her face. When we were twelve, we sat on the roof and held hands, and it felt like the Fright Zone smog cleared up for a little while.

Glimmer is kind of like that, except more… strange. Mysterious. Catra was safe and easy to understand. I’d known her since we were little. I’d learned to read her, and we grew up in the same world, where everything made sense. Glimmer and I are different. She’s so elegant and brave and beautiful, and she’s from a completely different life than anything I could ever have dreamed of. She’s like a puzzle, and sometimes it feels like I can’t decipher a word says. But at the same time, I couldn’t tear my eyes away even if I wanted to. I want to learn to understand this weird place I’ve found myself in, just so I would know what’s going on inside her head like I did with Catra. I don’t know if that’s wrong of me. I just want to be with her and understand her.

When I’m with Glimmer, all of these feelings bubble up inside that I don’t have names for. Sometimes there’s a tingle in my stomach and flush in my head and my cheeks. A warmth that starts in my chest and climbs to the tips of my fingers. Sometimes it’s like the gentle heat of embers in a cold night. Other times it’s burning, like a wildfire that rises up to my head and makes me fry up on the inside, and my cheeks and ears go warm. Those times, it feels almost like too much to handle. 

Sometimes, when I wake up in the middle of the night, sleeping over in her room, I look up and see her there. Faint blue and pink light from the window cast on her, the dust in the air around her makes her look like she’s shining. She looks like someone from a story. Someone who’s too incredible to be real. But she’s here. She’s here so much that it feels like everything else is less real than her. I never want those moments to pass. It feels like maybe things are alright, as long as she is, too.

Sometimes, she fills me with uncertainty. When she comes to see me when I practice and I suddenly can’t focus anymore. I feel terrible for messing up my steps and my parries even though no matter what I do, Glimmer is cheering me on. She never seems to notice or care when I screw up. When she smiles that little smile of hers that’s mostly in her eyes, I start to mumble and trip over my words. The pit of my stomach feels tight with embarrassment, but it's still good, because it’s her. I feel so many things because of Glimmer, and I don’t understand any of them.

I want to understand. The people on Bright Moon have more words for feelings than I ever knew existed. I couldn’t put my finger on so many things in my head before I came here, and I learn about new emotions all the time. There are so many concepts on Bright Moon I could never have conjured up in my head- things like “heartbreak” and “games” and “missing somebody.” They’re words and feelings that existed in the Horde, but we were never really taught what they were. We knew what they felt like, but we didn’t have the proper words for them. On Bright Moon, everyone is taught what they are. Everyone knows what it feels like to have a heart broken, or play games, or miss somebody.

“Truth or dare,” Bow says. Mermista hums passively, arms crossed, leaning against the couch. This is another game that the Rebellion has. This one is a little different. Instead of throwing and catching and kicking things around, it’s about making people say or do things that they’re going to regret. I think. That’s what I’ve gathered.

“Truth,” Mermista says. That’s a good call on her part. The whole game Bow has been telling people to do stupid and terrible stuff, like dunk their head in ice-cold water or eat a whole ember leaf. In fact, everyone’s been telling each other to do things like that. It seems to be in the spirit of the game. Perfuma is still soaking wet and shivering, and I don’t know if my tongue is ever going to not feel weird and tingly again.

Bow leans forward on one elbow. His eyebrows are creased in deep concentration, and he’s rubbing his chin with his thumb and index finger. When his face morphs into a mischievous smirk, I know Mermista’s in for something terrible. “Do you have a crush on anybody?”

“A crush?” Mermista and I ask aloud at the same time. She meets my eyes, surprised. For all the things he could have asked, I don’t see how this is so terrible. Then again, I’m racking my brain for what Bow could mean by that. A crush… does that mean something like your worst enemy? The person you most want to crush? Someone you want to battle? A friend you want to wrestle? It doesn’t make any sense. Mermista shakes her head. “What kind of question is that? No, of course not!”

“Not even Sea Hawk?” Perfuma asks, wringing water out of her hair. Well, that can’t be right. Mermista and Sea Hawk argue all the time and she can't seem to stand him, but I don’t think she wants to crush him. That would be sort of extreme.

“What? Are you kidding me?” Mermista pouts. See, that makes sense. “I’m more likely to crush on everyone in this room than I am on Sea Hawk.”

Nevermind. Doesn’t make sense.

"Oh come on, who are we going to tell?" Bow says, mock innocently, batting his eyes at Mermista. He's doing that leany-forwardy thing that makes him look more suspicious even though he thinks it doesn't.

"Bow, you tell everyone everything," I point out, poking him in the shoulder. Perfuma laughs brightly.

"Adora's right, there's no way the whole castle wouldn't know before tomorrow morning," she says. She laughs, softly, behind a hand held to her lips. "Actually, Mermista, I'm starting to sympathize with you."

“Thank you! Finally!” Mermista says, but she’s smiling. "Now can we move on?"

“Bow,” I ask later, quietly, when everyone’s asleep. He’s drowsy, dozing off on his bed. Perfuma has passed out on pile of pillows scattered across the floor, while Mermista is snoring softly on the couch. The room is filled with the lilac of twilight, but I’m wide awake. The sun’s almost up already, and yet everyone is still sleeping. The people of Bright Moon sleep so much, sometimes I wonder how they get anything done. I lean up from my mattress next to Bow’s bed and grab his arm. Bow makes a sleepy noise and his eyes flutter open. He stretches his leg out to wake it up and shifts a little bit, drowsy but curious eyes set on me. I frown, arranging the question in my head. “What… is a crush, exactly?”

Bow makes a noise that’s somewhere between uncertainty and annoyance. His voice is tired and warm, and his dark eyes look like he would be teasing me for this if he hadn’t just woken up. “Did you not have crushes in the Horde?”

“Oh, we crushed lots of things,” I say confidently. Across the room, Mermista turns on her side and makes a noise of complaint. I lower my voice to a hush. “But I don’t think that’s what it means here.”

“Yeah, no,” Bow says, cut off by a giant yawn. “A crush is when you like someone like that, you know?”

“Like what?” I ask. He stares at me with an unreadable expression for an uncomfortably long amount of time. Then he sighs very deeply and rubs the bridge of his nose.

“Okay, so… Have you ever wondered, like, where babies come from?” he asks, and the tone of his voice communicates that he’s somewhat uncertain of whether or not he actually wants to talk about this. Luckily, I already know the answer to this question.

“Oh, patrols find them and bring them back to the base!” I say.

There’s a beat of silence as Bow stares into my eyes. Then he snorts and laughs into his hands. His words are undercut by laughter. “What, do they just appear in the woods? Come down from the sky like rain or something?”

“Would you two shut up?” Mermista says, grovelly, from under the blanket she has on the couch with her. Perfuma is still sleeping soundly. Bow snorts into the crook of his elbow.

“We’ll talk about this later, okay, Adora?” he says, a little bit quieter now.

The sun is so much bigger on Bright Moon. I know it’s the same sun, but still. It’s white hot and giant, nothing like the cold hallway lights I’m used to. No wonder everyone here wears such soft clothes that do nothing to protect their vital organs. When I arrived, I thought they were all stupid for showing so much skin, but that doesn’t feel quite as pressing when I’m huddled up, red-faced even under the shade of a tree in the courtyard. Bow and Glimmer don’t even seem to care. I think they’re only sitting next to me because they like to spend time with me.

“Why do you think it’s such a ridiculous idea that babies get found and brought in by patrols?” I ask, toying with the soft grass of the courtyard, and idly running my hands down the roots of the tree that we’re leaning against. I can feel every bump and spike in the rough bark, scratching against my palms. Bow is carving an arrow with a pocketknife.

“Well, I’m just saying, it doesn’t make any sense. How would the babies get to the place they were found? Did they pop in from like a portal or something?” Slivers of wood fly to the ground. Glimmer sits on my other side, separated from me by a huge root. She’s dozing off against the tree, eyes closed. I think she’s fully asleep by now. Little spots of sun that come in through the leaves fall onto her face and speckle it with light. I trace a spiral pattern in the bark with a finger.

“Well, that’s what happened in the Horde,” I say.

Bow goes quiet for a moment. The only sound from him is the occasional swipe of the knife against the wood of the arrow. “Babies don’t just show up. They have parents.”

“So where were ours?” I ask roughly, worry growing in my throat.

“Well…” Bow starts, but he trails off into a sigh. “Knowing the Horde.”

He doesn’t need to say any more than that.

“You never told me what a crush is,” I say to Bow a few days later, the three of us hanging out in Glimmer’s room. I’m sitting at the edge of Glimmer’s sofa bed thing just by the window. She’s reclining against a pillow, reading a book, while Bow sits on a mattress surrounded by velvet pillows on the floor. Everything on Bright Moon is soft. Glimmer looks up from her book and down at Bow, smiling in a sly, knowing way with her eyebrows lifted up high.

“Ooh, what have you two been talking about?” she says. Her voice reminds me of the sound that played when I would beat a simulation back in the Horde. A gorgeous, high-pitched chord that echoed in the simulation hall and the feeling of pride and warmth in my chest of knowing I’d done well. That’s what she’s like in general. Bow laughs.

“Oh, shut it, Glimmer,” he says amicably, and she chuckles like the wind rushing across tiny silver bells. “Apparently they don’t have crushes in the Horde.”

“Well, maybe we do! You just won’t tell me what it means!” I say with frustration, falling back with a groan. The bed makes a ‘poof’ when I land on it. My head falls onto Glimmer’s stomach and she relaxes back onto the bed from where she was straining to look at Bow. One hand comes up to touch my head gently. It’s nice.

“Well, it’s like…” she says, looking out of the window, long lashes fluttering. Her hair twinkles in the sun, and her fingers are still carding idly through my hair. “It’s like when someone’s really special to you, and you want to spend all your time with them? Hold their hand and kiss them and stuff like that.”

I don’t know what kissing is, but I understand most of what she’s saying. “So is it different from being friends?”

“Oh, yeah, it’s different from being friends,” Bow says. “Well, I mean, you can have crushes on your friends, but at some point… you know how they say, more than friends.”

“How can you be more than friends?” I ask right away. The concept strikes me as odd. I know some friends can be closer than other friends- I’m closer to Glimmer and Bow than I am to someone like Perfuma. Back in the Horde, I was closer to my squadron than anyone else, and even within the squadron, I was closer to Catra than I ever was to Kyle or Lonnie or Rogelio. But we were all friends. I thought that friends was the closest that you could be to a person.

“Well, you don’t kiss people who are just your friends,” Bow says. He and Glimmer both look like this is something that I should know, but it feels strange and alien. “Or marry them or get kids.”

“Get kids… and become parents?” I ask, trying to connect the concepts in my head. They’re all so new and confusing. “So Glimmer was a baby and her parents are her mother and her father, who are married, which means they’re more than friends.”

“Uh…” Glimmer says, looking uncomfortable. Her hand stills on my head. _Oh, great job, Adora, you said something weird and wrong and made her uncomfortable again._ Bluh. I frown, but when she looks down and sees that, she smiles in a vaguely calming way, like she’s trying to pretend I didn’t say anything wrong. She twirls a little curl of my hair around a finger. “Yeah, I guess that’s right.”

“And that’s the same as crushing each other?”

Glimmer snorts when she laughs. Dimples form on her cheeks, and her hand is so soft and real on my head, I’m hyperaware of it. That tingly, warm feeling bubbles up and spreads through me again. It makes it feel like things are okay again. I don’t ever want it to disappear. The realization hits.

Usually when Bow and I are alone, it’s because Glimmer has magic training. Today is no exception. She’s in the big hall across the castle, and she’s not going to be done until an hour from now. Bow and I are hanging out in his room until she comes back. My face is still red from today’s rigorous sword training and the scalding hot water of the castle’s washroom. Bow’s messing around with a little tablet in his hands with a holographic screen casting blue light on his face.

“Bow,” I say, deciding to broach the subject. It’s been a few days, and I’ve been trying to talk to somebody about it, but I don’t know who and I don’t know what to say. This is something I really don’t want to mess up. I’m definitely not in my element here. Bow hums passively, mostly focused on his tech. I look at him and then up at the high-arched ceiling of his room. “I think Glimmer is my crush.”

He does not respond, but the beeping of his devices stops. When I look back down, I find him staring at me, eyes wide and jaw agape. His voice is much higher pitched than usual. “What’d you say?”

“Uh… The crushing thing. I think I’m crushing Glimmer, or whatever it was, I don’t remember exactly…” I say, trailing off. He blinks. Anxiety bites at my skin all over like a bunch of hungry ants. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything-

“Of course! That makes so much sense!” Bow says loudly, bringing a hand up to his face. The tablet falls to the bed as he twists onto his back, laughing. “Oh, this is amazing! I get to wingman you!”

“Wingman?” I ask. “Yes. Of course you can be that, if you want to, I guess. It feels like Swift Wind would be a better wingman, though. He has wings."

“Oh, no, no, no,” Bow says, getting up suddenly. His tone is urgent, so I meet his eyes. “Swift Wind is far too blunt. He doesn’t get this stuff at all. Trust me, I’m your best bet. I’ve always wanted to wingman someone. My two best friends dating would be awesome, can you imagine?”

“Uh…” I say. All of this is strange and new and I don’t really understand what ‘dating’ or ‘wingmanning’ is. Still, Bow and Glimmer understand things better than I do, so I should trust Bow’s judgment on this. If he thinks that I need a wingman, and it should be him, then who am I to say no? “Okay. So… what does that mean?”

"Well, you like Glimmer," he says, and I nod passionately.

"Of course I like Glimmer! She's my best friend! And she's so skilled and smart, and her eyes are beautiful. Have you seen her eyes? They're like… shiny," I gush.

"Aww," Bow says, leaning on one hand. Back in the Horde, that would have meant that he thought I was weak and pathetic. Panic brushes my heart with the fear that I've done something wrong, but I ignore it. This is Bright Moon. People aren't like that here. "You're all sappy! I can't believe I didn't figure it out before. Anyway, point is. You need to woo Glimmer."

"I would woo for Glimmer at any competition she was taking part in," I say, nodding sagely. Games might be a new concept for me, but I know that when you're watching one, you're supposed to yell "whoo" to show your support for the competitors, much in the same way we would shout to encourage our squadmates during sims.

So, of course I'm disappointed when Bow says, "oh, no no. Not that kind of wooing. We're talking about winning her favor and her love, like in all the plays and books and stuff. You have to show her why she should date you in specific."

“...Why would she not?” I ask, a little bit concerned.

“Uh… Well, like, if she had other suitors, who were… better suited?” Bow tries to explain. Something about the idea of other people feeling the same way about Glimmer as I do feels… upsetting. It feels wrong. How could anybody know what Glimmer means to me? Bow is different. Bow and Glimmer have a connection, but it’s not like how Glimmer is with me. We’re different.

“Who would be better suited?” I ask confidently, and Bow laughs briefly.

“Okay, yeah, that’s fair. But it’s _tradition.”_

Oh, tradition. Its only purpose seems to be to make things be way too complicated for no reason. I don’t really understand why it’s so important to the people of Etheria. I frown and slump down, leaning against my hand. “Do we have to do it the traditional way? I think it would be easier if I just told her.” 

“Oh no no no no,” Bow says quickly. "Glimmer's the _princess of Bright Moon,_ Adora. Tradition is her _thing."_

"Fine," I sigh. "Okay. So… how do we do it the traditional way?"

Bow smirks in a silly way and rubs his chin. "I think I have some ideas…"

The first step in Bow's new and improved plan is called "high heels" and I do not understand it. 

A “high heel” is like a shoe, except it doesn’t do any of the things that a shoe is supposed to do. Like make your feet more comfortable or stable. It actually does the opposite of those things. The high heels Bow gives me are red and shiny. I fall over four times before I manage to stand up with them on. Apparently they’re fashionable, or something like that.

The next step involves Perfuma. Bow invites her over to give me a make-over. Perfuma ‘squee’s really loudly when she finds out the purpose of the whole thing. I understand why I would be that excited over it, but I don’t really get why she is. She agrees to help Bow help me woo Glimmer. This is such a project.

Now, I have actually had make-overs before, so this one wasn’t a challenge. Reminded me of Princess Prom, though, with all the rules. Princess Prom wasn’t… fun. And I never really got the appeal of make-overs. Glimmer likes them, though, but Bow tells me we can’t invite her to help. Ugh. How am I supposed to woo her if I can’t even ask for her advice?

Perfuma and Bow help me choose a dress. It’s good that they’re both there. Bow keeps Perfuma from picking one with too many flowers and Perfuma makes sure that the one Bow chooses actually has a stomach part on it.

“Okay, so, here’s the plan. Perfuma and I got Queen Angella to agree to that party we talked about. The one celebrating the eight-and-a-half-years’ anniversary of Bright Moon’s alliance with Plumeria? Well, it’s in three days,” Bow explains. 

“Remind me why it had to be at a party?” I ask.

“Of course it had to be a party,” Bow says like it’s obvious. “It’s always at a party. Fancy balls are the most romantic place ever to confess your feelings to a princess. It’s how it goes! The suitor comes up to the princess at the ball and asks for her hand…”

“Okay, okay,” I say. “Please, continue.”

I’m sitting in his room, surrounded by blankets and sheets. He’s set up a board with a chart on it, which I appreciate. Notes are pinned to it. Finally, a plan that makes sense. Bow points at various points and notes on the chart. 

“So, first there’ll be a feast. You’re going to sit next to Glimmer and make small talk. It doesn’t matter what you talk about, you just have to make sure she’s energetic and ready to dance. Got it?”

“Got it,” I respond.

“Alright. Make sure neither of you eats too much, so that you’re not too full for the next step. The big dance,” Bow says and moves over to the next note. It’s a crude drawing of me and Glimmer. “After the feast, the band will start playing, and people will start dancing. Now, you’re going to go over to Glimmer and give her the flowers-”

“Wait, but I was already sitting next to her,” I interrupt. Bow stops and stares at me blankly.

“Okay, uh,” he thinks aloud. Moves around a few notes on the board. “Okay, change of plan. After the feast, when the band starts playing, you’re going to excuse yourself - pop quiz! What do you say to do that?”

“‘Excuse me. I have to go powder my nose,’” I respond automatically.

“Correct answer!” Bow says with a clap. “So, you’re going to excuse yourself and go to the other room. Okay, and you can fetch the flowers from there!”

“Oh, that’s so much better than keeping them inside the dress,” I sigh, relieved. “Okay. Then what?”

“Then you come back,” Bow explains. “Make sure to take long enough that she won’t get suspicious, but not too long, so that she doesn’t get suspicious. Then you’ll go up to her and give her the flowers, and then, uh… then ask her for a dance.”

I nod. I see a few problems with this plan - is she just going to stand there and wait? What if she’s already dancing with someone? - but Bow probably knows what he’s doing better than I do. “Then what?”

“...Then…” Bow says, looking at the notes pinned to the wall. “Then you’ll have wooed her.”

“Oh. Okay?”

“Yeah,” Bow assures. “And once you’ve wooed her, that’s when you have to ask her… for a kiss.”

“Right,” I say. I’ve recently learned that kissing is putting your mouth against someone else’s mouth. It’s a form of affection shared between people who are in love. “And that’s it?”

“Yep!” Bow says. “That’s all there is to it!”

I hurry through the castle hallways the next day with a bouquet in my hand.

It feels a little stupid to smuggle flowers into the castle. There are flowers in the courtyard. Bow says that only the best flowers will suffice, though, so me and Swift Wind went all the way to Plumeria to find some. Hopefully Glimmer will like them. They’re the best of the best, after all. And now I’m back, and I absolutely cannot let her see them yet-

“Hey, Adora!” Glimmer says behind me. I almost jump and spin around. There she is, poofy hair and all, looking radiant.

“Oh, hey, Glimmer!” I scramble to say. Flowers hidden behind my back. I stumble backwards. “Haha, it’s so great to see you. I’m a little busy right now, though, so I’ll catch up with you later-”

“Really? What are you busy with?” Glimmer asks in that tense tone. I stop. She only ever talks like that when she’s upset.

“Um…” I say. “Just busy.”

“Really?” Glimmer asks. “I haven’t seen you around, like, at all lately. You or Bow.”

“Well, yeah…” I say. “You know that party that we’re having the day after tomorrow? I’ve been helping Bow and Perfuma plan it, so it’s been, y’know…”

“Couldn’t I help?” Glimmer asks. “It’s being held here, after all.”

“Uhh,” I mumble. “Just hold on for a second, okay?”

Glimmer stares at me, uncertain. “Okay…”

“Okay!” I say and back behind a corner. Make sure she can’t see me. And then I turn around and book it.

“Did you get the flowers?” Bow asks when I dash into his room and slam the door behind me. “Oh, wow, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I respond. “She almost caught me, though. Look, Bow, I gotta say I don’t really get all this. Why do we have to be so secretive? It feels like it shouldn’t be this big of a… y’know, secret. Plus, I think Glimmer is starting to get upset, because we’re not talking to her.”

“Psh, no,” Bow says. He’s currently attaching a note to the chart. By note, I mean sheet of paper. I can’t see what it says, except for the title at the top: _Romantic Effects of Heels That Are 4” or Higher: Glimmer’s Thing for Tall People._ “She’s fine. Once the party rolls around and we show her all of this, she’s going to swoon so hard her head will hit the floor.”

“Okay, well, that sounds kind of painful,” I respond.

“Just stick to the plan,” Bow insists. “It’ll go off without a hitch!”

The day rolls around. I’ve been avoiding Glimmer for three days now, and it’s getting exhausting. Not just because I have to skulk around the halls like a hunting panther, but also because I miss her. I don't know if that's a weird way to say it, but it's true.

I'm really excited to get this party going.

Mermista ties up the strings on the back of my dress. The castle is full of hustle and bustle, so the quiet of the guest chambers provided for her is really welcome.

"Done," she says. "And here's the scarf."

"Thanks," I sigh. The outfit Bow and Perfuma helped me pick out is a long dress with a red top and a white, flower-patterned hem. A decorative golden belt wraps around my waist, with a ruby-studded insignia. A poofy white silk scarf to go around my neck is also part of the outfit. And the heels.

Oh, the heels.

I don't know much about what makes a pair of high heels fashionable, but whatever it is, it's not comfortable. Strapping the shoes on and standing up already makes me get vertigo. Couldn't the heel at least be flat instead of forcing me to balance on my toes?

"Have you ever worn heels to a party before, Adora?" Mermista asks. She's so much shorter than me now.

"Haven't had the chance, no," I respond.

Mermista chuckles. "It shows."

We walk through the busy castle. Going down the stairs is a bit of a challenge. I go through a checklist in my head. The dress is on. The heels are on. The flowers are hidden in a room behind the corner that I’m pretty sure isn’t getting used for anything. Step one, the feast. Sit next to Glimmer. Make small talk. Step two, the dance. Excuse myself. Get the flowers.

I sigh. There’s a jittery feeling in my belly. Okay. I have a plan. Everything will be fine, so long as I have a plan. And then, I’ll have wooed Glimmer, and everything will be great.

Mermista and I aren’t the first people to show up. Netossa and Spinnerella are there already. So are Bow and Perfuma, and an assorted group of nobles from all over the Rebellion. And, of course:

“Hi,” Glimmer says bashfully. Wow. She’s dressed in a silken, lavender-white dress with fake flowers embroidered on its collar and waistline. The hem is poofed out and comes down to her calves in flowing waves. Under that, she’s wearing white, flower-patterned stockings and small purple shoes, and a cape-shawl that crosses her chest and cascades over one shoulder. Her neck and hair are covered in gemstones and decorated golden jewelry.

“Hey,” I say, feeling warm suddenly. “You look really nice.”

“Oh, thanks,” Glimmer says, even more bashfully. “You too.”

The Princesses eat really well. Back in the Horde, a meal consisted of water and mush, maybe some flavor powder to mix in the water. Here, though, even the normal meals are big enough to make me not want to move a muscle for the rest of the day. And this isn’t a regular meal.

The first round of appetizers includes stuffed vegetable bites, little baked rolls with spicy meat inside, roasted honey nuts, tiny, greasy, cheesy pies and salty baked sticks. The second round consists of veggie casseroles and pies. The main course is a huge lamb roast served on a silver platter with edible leaves and flowers. Hoo, wow. They haven’t even brought out the dessert yet.

I look over. Bow is stuffing his face on the other end of the table. I glance at Glimmer, sitting next to me. She’s busy chopping up a slice of veggie pie into chunks. I clear my throat.

“So…” I start. “Nice… weather today?”

Glimmer’s knife clacks against her plate when it slides through the slice of pie. She shrugs. “I guess so.”

And that’s that. Okay, well, that didn’t really work. Suddenly, the way I’m sitting isn’t very comfortable. I pop one of the roasted honey nuts in my mouth. It crunches when I bite down on it. “Uh… quite a meal they prepared.”

“Oh, yeah,” Glimmer chuckles. “Hope I have space to try everything.”

“Well,” I say, panicking. “I mean, don’t, like… eat too much, though.”

Glimmer gives me a weird look. “What are you talking about?”

“I just mean,” I say. Words are coming out of my mouth faster than I would like them to. “If you eat too much, you’ll feel bad after… after the meal.”

Glimmer stares. “Well, yeah… I mean, that’s kind of the point of a feast, though. Isn’t it?”

“It is?” I ask hushedly. How hard am I sweating right now? I can’t tell.

“I don’t know,” Glimmer says. She’s impaled a piece of veggie pie on her fork. “It kind of comes with the whole feast deal, I think.”

“Oh, huh,” I say and swallow the bits of honey nut down. Chafing on my throat. I reach for my glass. The drink they serve here is a sickly sweet concoction of weird fizzy, syrupy fluid. Oh, geez. Am I drinking too loud? I put the glass down and wipe my mouth.

“Are you okay, Adora?” Glimmer asks.

“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be fine?” I say and stuff another honey nut into my mouth. 

“Are you sure?” Glimmer asks again. She sounds genuinely worried. “You seem really tense.”

I take another huge swig of the weird syrup drink. “Yeah. I’m just, I don’t know, nervous or something.”

Technically, not a lie. Glimmer looks at me for a few seconds longer and then sighs. “Yeah, honestly, me too. I mean, yeah, there are a lot of nobles I don’t know well here, but this is just a thing between friends. It’s not like the Rebellion is on the line again or anything, but… I don’t know. It feels like they’re all judging us for how we’ve organized all this.”

“Really?” I ask. “I didn’t know you… did stuff for the event.”

“Oh, I did,” Glimmer says. “Not a lot. Mostly it was Mom and Perfuma, I think. But I did help with a few things. Decorating and sending invitations and stuff like that. And even if I hadn’t, I am the princess, so… there’s some pressure on me, anyway.”

“Oh,” I say quietly and eat another honey nut. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“I hope so, too,” Glimmer says.

I suddenly realize how little I’ve talked to Glimmer in the past few days. I’ve been so busy working everything out and rehearsing for this with Bow and stressing about making sure that Glimmer doesn’t find out that I haven’t had any time to catch up with her. And it makes me feel… really guilty.

“Sorry for not talking to you the last few days,” I say quietly. “I’ve been so busy.”

“No, I understand. It’s fine,” Glimmer says passively, staring at her food.

“What have you been up to? Besides planning this,” I ask. 

“Well…” Glimmer starts.

She recounts her week to me, at least the parts I wasn’t there for. About her training and misadventures with the invites. She apparently had to have Swift Wind take some of the invites out, but he dropped the bag and the invites scattered around the city. So he fetched Glimmer and they had to go on a wild goose-chase around town to find all the missing invites. I actually wish I’d been there.

Eventually, the cake is brought in- huge and white, with blue and pink sugar fondant flowers and ribbons on it, coated in powdered sugar. It tastes delicious. But I only eat one slice. The dance is still coming up, after all.

It’s crazy how easy it is to slip back into chatting with Glimmer. I know it’s been less than a week since we last hung out, but it felt like an eternity. And yet now - just like always - it feels like we’ve been friends ever since I can remember. Glimmer gets so into the stories she tells. She’s grinning so brightly. The other nobles sitting around us are giving us weird looks for being so loud. I have to subdue my laughter at some of her jokes.

The cake disappears all too quickly. And then, the band arrives at the end of the ballroom and announces that the dance part of the feast is about to begin. Okay. Okay. Time for step two: the flowers. I don’t know what I was even worried about. This is going to go so well.

“Uh, I’m going to go… powder my nose,” I say proudly and push my chair back.

“Powder your nose?” Glimmer stifles a laugh into the back of her hand sweetly. “What?”

“Uh, yeah. Powder my nose?” I repeat.

“Okay,” Glimmer says. “See you soon.”

“Bye,” I say. The moment I start walking away, some noble starts to chat with her. Okay, that’s fine. I’ll be right back, anyway. 

I round the corner and trace the wall to the door of the room where I left the flowers. Oh, the door’s open. Huh. That’s weird. Don’t think I left it open. I push on the door and it creaks open, and…

Oh. Oh no. There’s a cat perched on the table, chewing on the flowers. What? Cats don’t eat flowers.

“Hey! Shoo! Shoo!” I snap, rushing into the room. The cat looks at me with pupils slit and meows. Its claws scratch at the petals when it leaps to the floor and runs past me through the door. I don’t even look at it go. The flowers are ruined. “Yeah, that’s right! Get out of here! Oh, no…”

A lot of the petals have fallen off and others have scratches and bite marks on them. The whole bouquet is flat and smells of cat drool. I pick it up and examine it closer. Oh no. Dread grows in my stomach. I can’t give this to Glimmer. I had to go out to get these from Plumeria. They were meant to be the best of the best. No way will they be able to woo her like this. Worst case scenario, she’ll think they’re an insult.

I glance at the window. Would I have time to ride to Plumeria and find more flowers and come back in time? No, no, that’s stupid. I’d probably ruin my dress trying, and I don’t even know where Swift Wind is. Maybe if I asked Glimmer to teleport me there, but then she’d find out, and besides, she has to be there for the nobles.

Oh, no…

I lean out the door and look down the hallway, through the open door of the ballroom. Bow is nowhere to be seen. Maybe if I could find him, I could ask for advice. But I probably won’t be able to, not in time, at least. Okay. Improvise. I drop the flowers. I’ll have to do without them. I just hope Glimmer won’t get wooed, or reject my wooing, or whatever. I’m not clear on what happens if the wooing is unsuccessful, but whatever it is, it can’t be good.

I sneak back into the ballroom. The music is playing loudly now. Bouncy and bright and exactly the kind of music the Rebellion loves to dance to. A lot of people are already dancing.

I spot Glimmer standing at the edge of the dancefloor uncomfortably, holding her drink in her hand. I slink through the crowd to her side. She doesn’t notice me over the mood lighting - noticably darker than when I left - or the music. I tap her on the shoulder. She almost spills her drink.

“Adora! Hi,” she says. “Don’t scare me like that.”

“Sorry,” I say. I look up at all the nobles. The song ends and the band starts up again, as if on cue, this time playing a slower, smoother ballad. Oh, okay. This is it. This is it. I offer my hand to Glimmer. “Care to, uh… give me this dance?”

Is that how you say it? Glimmer doesn’t look sure either, but then she smiles and takes my hand. “My pleasure.”

We step out onto the dancefloor. So the flowers were a bust, but things seem to be looking up now. Glimmer doesn’t protest to me leading the dance. I remember all the dance moves Bow and Perfuma taught me. Three days wasn’t long, but I know how it goes. I can totally do this.

Okay. Step, one, two-

Uh oh. Problem. I never practiced the dance while wearing the heels. The strap presses on my feet and I feel off-balance.

It’s fine. It’s fine. It’s fine. Step, one, two, it’s fine, step, one-

The heel of one of my shoes snaps. I barely have time to register it- my center of balance tips to the right, behind me. I stumble, and find uneven ground with the heels like this. I make an indignant sound and crash to the ground, pulling Glimmer down with me. She squeaks.

The next thing I realize, I’m on the floor. The sounds of people gasping around us and the fact that Glimmer is lying on top of me filter through a throbbing headache. Oh, I hit my head on the floor. Ow.

“Are you okay, princesses?” asks a noble standing nearby. Glimmer gives her a weak thumbs-up. She pushes herself up and looks down at me with worry.

“Adora?” she asks.

“Yeah,” I mumble. “My heel broke.”

“I noticed,” Glimmer says. “Geez.”

I sit up. My head is aching.

“Scene’s over, everyone,” Bow says, marching to us. “Go back to dancing.”

The music starts up again, though not quite with as much energy. I look up at Bow when he crouches down next to us. Perfuma and Mermista are hot at his heels.

“You should probably take the shoes off now,” Mermista suggests. I toe the heels off my feet and stand up. Glimmer helps pull me up.

“Thanks,” I say, resigned. Well, there it goes. My attempt to woo Glimmer is officially wrecked in every possible way, and as a bonus, now every noble this side of the Whispering Woods thinks I’m a klutzy idiot. I stand up with the shoes and my broken heel in hand. “Well, I’ll see you all around.”

“Where are you going?” Perfuma asks.

“Somewhere quieter,” I sigh.

The air out on the balcony is cooler. The throbbing bassline of the music on the inner side of the pillared walls is quiet and distant. I stare at the shoes in my hands. They were pretty, to be honest. As far as shoes go, at least. And now they’re ruined. Just like the night. And my reputation. And my head, probably. At least the silence is helping my headache a little. I lean against the railing.

There are quiet footsteps on the floor behind me. 

“Adora?” Glimmer comes up next to me. I glance her and then away. She puts her hand on my arm. “Hey. What has all this been about?”

“What?” I ask. “Breaking a shoe and falling over in the middle of a prestigious crowd?”

“No- Well, that too,” Glimmer admits. “Mostly I mean… everything. You’ve been so weird and secretive. Avoidant. Y’know? What’s been going on that you haven’t been telling me about?”

“I…” Any explanation I could give gets caught in my throat. “Well… you know this whole party? Well, it wasn’t actually because of the eight-and-a-half-years’ anniversary of our alliance with Plumeria. Bow and Perfuma helped me set it up, because they wanted me to woo you.”

“What?” Glimmer asks with shock.

“Well, that sounds bad. I mean, I wanted- I mean, they wanted me to woo you because I wanted to woo you, I guess? Well, no, they told me that I needed to woo you to, y’know… tell you…” I stumble.

“Tell me what?” Glimmer demands. Sometimes she gets this crease between her eyebrows and she gets really serious and angry-looking about things, and I can’t help but snort at the look she gives me. 

“That you’re my crush,” I respond. The crease disappears, and is replaced with surprise on Glimmer’s face.

“Oh,” Glimmer says. “Like, you have a crush on me?”

“Yeah,” I say.

“Oh. Oh!” Glimmer says. She laughs and messes with her hair. “That’s… what all this was for? Is that why you were asking about love and crush things and everything, last week?”

“Yeah…” I say. “Didn’t really go well at all though. I guess you hate me now or something?”

“Why would I hate you?” Glimmer says. “No. No, no. No. I think… this was super sweet of you. I mean, dancing and everything.”

“I was going to give you flowers,” I tell her. “But there was a cat that tried to eat them and ruined them.”

Glimmer laughs in that bright way that she always does, and everything feels really easy again. And those butterflies are back in my stomach. She leans against my arm. “I don’t care about flowers or dancing. Or traditional ‘wooing’ or anything like that, Adora.”

“You don’t?” I ask, shocked. I would have thought this would all have been… really important to her.

“I really, really don’t,” Glimmer admits. “I mean, I guess I kind of do. Maybe I would have, if it had been someone else. And I really appreciate that you tried. If it had gone well, it would have been so romantic.”

“Yeah, I guess,” I say. “But it didn’t go well.”

“Yeah, but you know what?” Glimmer says. I meet her eyes. They’re wide and kind and lovely, and I think I can see the stars reflected in them. Or maybe that’s just how they look. “I don’t mind. Because it was you. You’re my crush too, Adora.”

Oh, geez. Chills. What. I must look ridiculous, because Glimmer snorts.

“Yeah,” she says. “You’re so, y’know, brave all the time, and you’re always trying your best… Even when things don’t go your way, you’re so strong. And I really admire it.”

She looks down and blushes. I touch her cheek. Run my thumb over the freckles. It feels electric. 

“Okay…” I say quietly. “So, uh, does that mean that I wooed you?”

Glimmer laughs. “Well, I guess, but it wasn’t because of the dancing. And, I guess, if you have a crush on me, too, that means… we both wooed each other?”

“Oh,” I say and put my hand down. Glimmer takes it in hers. The butterflies in my stomach get a little more aggressive in their jittering. “Okay.”

Wow. I did it. Kind of. So I let myself enjoy the silence for a little bit. It’s just me staring at Glimmer and her looking half at me and half at the sky above us. I gather my courage.

“Bow said that after you woo someone, you’re supposed to kiss them,” I say. “Is that true?”

Glimmer looks at me nervously. “It could be.”

“...Should it be?” I ask.

Glimmer doesn’t say anything. And then she says, “well, for us, I think… yeah. Yes. ...Is that okay?”

“Yeah, it is,” I say.

So Glimmer, smiling, puts her hand on my cheek and guides my face down, close to hers, and puts her lips against mine.

Yeah. It was worth the trouble.


End file.
